Red Light Cameras

We read with amusement and disbelief the short article: “Thousand Oaks; Council Rejects Red Light Cameras.”

The rejection was based on the results of a private study that determined that not enough people run red lights in the city to justify the program’s cost.

The private study must have been completed by Oscar the ostrich with his head in the sand. There are four or five street crossings in Thousand Oaks where we have observed people running red lights consistently during high-traffic times. The Thousand Oaks Boulevard and Westlake Boulevard crossing has one of the highest rates of people running red lights. About three years ago, the rate of people running red lights that we observed randomly at high traffic times was two to three per light. Early in 2001, the rate went up to four to five per red light. Recently, we observed a maximum rate of nine running one red light. The first eight were the end of the double left turn line onto Thousand Oaks Boulevard.

Then as we started to drive, No. 9 nine came racing through the light, almost hitting our car. She was frightened, as expressed by the look on her face, and she knew she had broken the law, but there was no one there to ticket her. If you project the number of people running red lights out to 2004, the rate may be as high as 10 to 12.

Getting back to the private study results, it is conceivable the study was based on the Red Skelton character Freddy the Freeloader. A friend asks Freddy what he was looking for at 15th Street and Grand. Freddy tells his friend that he lost some money at 14th Street and Grand. The friend asks Freddy why he was looking at 15th Street and Grand. Freddy says, “There is more light at 15th Street and Grand.” Maybe Oscar the ostrich was surveying the wrong street crossings or doing a lot of invalid averaging in his analysis.

Bernard Merkle

Westlake Village